written against Luther. He will read him, he will soon take up something
to quiet the tumult. He succeeds in getting Aleander, who arrived at
Louvain in June, to prohibit preaching against him. The Pope still hopes
that Aleander will succeed in bringing back Erasmus, with whom he is
again on friendly terms, to the right track.

But Erasmus began to consider the only exit which was now left to him:
to leave Louvain and the Netherlands to regain his menaced independence.
The occasion to depart had long ago presented itself: the third edition
of his New Testament called him to Basle once more. It would not be a
permanent departure, and he purposed to return to Louvain. On 28 October
(his birthday) he left the town where he had spent four difficult years.
His chambers in the College of the Lily were reserved for him and he
left his books behind. On 15 November he reached Basle.

Soon the rumour spread that out of fear of Aleander he had saved himself
by flight. But the idea, revived again in our days in spite of Erasmus's
own painstaking denial, that Aleander should have cunningly and
expressly driven him from the Netherlands, is inherently improbable. So
far as the Church was concerned, Erasmus would at almost any point be
more dangerous than at Louvain, in the headquarters of conservatism,
under immediate control of the strict Burgundian government, where, it
seemed, he could sooner or later be pressed into the service of the
anti-Lutheran policy.

It was this contingency, as Dr. Allen has correctly pointed out, which
he feared and evaded. Not for his bodily safety did he emigrate; Erasmus
would not have been touched--he was far too valuable an asset for such
measures. It was his mental independence, so dear to him above all else,
that he felt to be threatened; and, to safeguard that, he did not return
to Louvain.

[Illustration: XIX. THE HOUSE AT ANDERLECHT WHERE ERASMUS LIVED FROM MAY
TO NOVEMBER 1521]

[Illustration: XX. ERASMUS'S STUDY AT ANDERLECHT]

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Translation on pp. 229 ff.

CHAPTER XVII

ERASMUS AT BASLE

1521-9

Basle his dwelling-place for nearly eight years:
1521-9--Political thought of Erasmus--Concord and
peace--Anti-war writings--Opinions concerning princes and
government--New editions of several Fathers--The
_Colloquia_--Controversies with Stunica, Beda, etc.--Quarrel
with Hutten--Eppendorff

It is only towards the evening of life that the